QuantWare closes a $178M (€152M) Series B led by Intel Capital with In-Q-Tel — the largest private round to date for a dedicated quantum-processor company
On 2026-05-05, Delft-based QuantWare announced the close of an oversubscribed $178M (€152M) Series B equity round led by Intel Capital, alongside new investors In-Q-Tel (the CIA-affiliated strategic-investment fund) and ETF Partners. Existing investors FORWARD.one, Invest-NL Deep Tech Fund, InnovationQuarter Capital, Ground State Ventures, and Graduate Ventures also participated. QuantWare characterizes the round as the largest private equity round to date for a dedicated quantum-processor company. Capital is allocated to (a) the construction of KiloFab, described by QuantWare as the world's largest dedicated open-architecture quantum-processor fab, increasing production capacity 20x; and (b) scaling the company's VIO superconducting-chiplet architecture toward a 10,000-qubit (VIO-40K) target processor — claimed at 100x the qubit count of current state-of-the-art commercial systems. The round and KiloFab announcement are tied to active demand: QuantWare reports a multi-vendor customer base receiving production processors today.
Score 8 — falls squarely within §8.2 anchor row 'A Series B/C of $150-500M for a credible hardware startup'. The capital concentration is reinforced by lead-investor selection: Intel Capital's lead positions a US-foundry-adjacent strategic in a Dutch superconducting open-architecture company, immediately after the Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan board appointment at PsiQuantum (2026-04-30, 2026-W18 weekly featured item) — Intel's quantum-investment posture is now visibly cross-modality (silicon-photonic via PsiQuantum board seat; superconducting via QuantWare lead investment). In-Q-Tel's participation flags US national-security strategic interest in non-US superconducting-processor manufacturing capacity. KiloFab adds a second European open-architecture quantum-processor fab signal alongside QuantWare's stated 20x production capacity expansion.
Pressures other superconducting-processor producers (Rigetti's Cepheus-1-108Q chiplet platform; IBM Quantum Heron / Loon roadmap; Google Willow line) to articulate matching open-architecture or third-party-foundry roadmaps. Strengthens the 'Intel as strategic-quantum allocator' read across the cross-modality governance link Intel ↔ PsiQuantum thread (introduced 2026-W18). Intel Capital's lead also positions QuantWare's chiplet stack as a candidate for Intel-foundry-process integration in the medium term. Capital concentration at the Tier-2 superconducting tier (QuantWare $178M; Rigetti $100M UK + balance-sheet capacity) makes the European superconducting open-architecture sub-segment the best-capitalized non-incumbent track in the modality.